Things Organised Neatly

Recently my lovely other-half introduced me to a tumblr called ‘Things organised Neatly’. What a find! This blog is fantastic, all of the images are fascinating!

What I found interesting was why I was so attracted to these photographs. I’ve noticed a trend in magazines with this style of photography(frankie), very ordered, utilising pattern and repetition.

I wonder if it is because it is logical, our brains like that there is a straightforeward intention behind these images. Ordered in size, colour or shape, our brains aren’t striving to derive meaning behind what it could be, instead we just accept the breakdown, it is what it is and nothing more. Perhaps the fact that it is so ordered and not confronting ie’ psychedelic’, means that we find these images attractive. I suppose spacing has something to do with it as well. Take for example this image below.

It has different coloured rectangles in different sizes. The spaces between the pieces are relatively even, with 5 distinct rows forming from top to bottom to create at least one side of a grid. This sets up a boundry for our attention. The order of the colours then gives the image direction, with a group of bright colours grabbing our attention first and then dissapating that outwards. There is nothing really behind this image, as it is all laid out in front of us, perhaps its the lack of mystery that makes these images so pleasent to behold. We can predict and understand the photograph based on the pattern, our brains can relax. Hmmmm.

Perhaps this is linked to the way that scientists display information, I’m thinking of butterfly specimen cases and plant diagrams.

These are used to convey information, a breakdown if you will, of the contents or make up of a something. In the same way that we can read these images, we can also read this new style of disection photography which uses pattern, sameness, and space to convey basic information and fact.

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One thought on “Things Organised Neatly”

Becface I can’t deal with the Pez photo. I just want to reach into the screen and place them all accurately in colour order to make a rainbow. Maybe I’ll start collecting Pez dispensers purely for this reason…